Learn How to Create a Design System in Figma

As a full-stack developer and designer, I believe strongly in the power of design systems to create consistent, efficient, and scalable user interfaces. A design system is a collection of reusable components, guided by clear standards, that can be assembled together to build any number of applications.

Figma has become my go-to tool for building design systems. It‘s a powerful, browser-based interface design tool that allows you to create, prototype, and collaborate all in one place. Here‘s a step-by-step guide to creating your own design system in Figma.

Why Build a Design System?

First, let‘s discuss why you would want to invest time in creating a design system. A well-crafted design system offers several key benefits:

Consistency: A design system ensures a cohesive look and feel across all your projects. No more wondering what shade of blue to use or how big to make a header – it‘s all defined in the system.

Efficiency: With a set of pre-made, reusable components, designers and developers can build interfaces much more quickly. No need to reinvent the wheel each time.

Scalability: As your product grows, a design system keeps everything consistent and manageable. When you need to make a change, you can update it in the design system and see it propagate everywhere.

Collaboration: A design system gets everyone on the same page – designers, developers, stakeholders, etc. It becomes a shared language for the team.

Step 1: Establish Design Principles

Every good design system is built on a foundation of solid design principles. These are the high-level guidelines that will inform every decision you make as you build out the system.

Some examples of design principles:

• Clarity: The interface should be easy to understand and navigate.
• Efficiency: Users should be able to accomplish tasks quickly and easily.
• Consistency: The interface should feel cohesive and familiar.
• Beauty: The aesthetic should be pleasing and polished.

Take some time at the beginning of the process to establish 3-5 key design principles with your team. Write them down and refer back to them often as you work.

Step 2: Define Colors and Typography

Next, you‘ll want to define the core visual styles of your design system, starting with colors and typography.

For colors, I recommend choosing a primary color that represents your brand, then building out a palette of 5-10 complementary colors. Tools like Adobe Color or Coolors can help you generate palettes. In Figma, you can create color styles to easily apply your chosen colors across your designs.

For typography, choose 2-3 fonts max (one for headings, one for body copy, and maybe one accent font). Define the font sizes, weights, and line heights for various types of text (H1, H2, paragraph, caption, etc.). Figma allows you to create text styles to keep your typography consistent.

Tip: Use meaningful names for your color and text styles, like "Brand Blue" instead of "Blue 1". This will make them easier to use and understand for your team.

Step 3: Create a Component Library

Now for the fun part – building out your library of reusable UI components! In Figma, components are elements that you can reuse across your designs and update in one place.

Some key components to include in your design system:

• Buttons (primary, secondary, disabled states)
• Form elements (inputs, checkboxes, radio buttons)
• Navigation (headers, footers, menus)
• Cards
• Modals
• Icons

For each component, consider all the various states (hover, active, disabled) and variations (size, color) you‘ll need. Create a component for each combination, being sure to use your color and text styles.

Organize your components using Figma‘s page and naming system in a way that makes sense for your team. For example, you might have a "Buttons" page with components named "Button / Primary", "Button / Secondary", etc.

Step 4: Define Spacing and Layout

To keep your interfaces looking clean and consistent, it‘s important to define some rules around spacing and layout.

Create a spacing scale – a set of consistent padding and margin values to use throughout your UI. For example, you might choose a base spacing unit of 8px, then build a scale of 8px, 16px, 24px, 32px, etc.

Define some common layout grids to use across your designs. For example, you might create a 12-column grid for desktop layouts, and an 8-column grid for tablets. In Figma, you can create Layout Grids to overlay on your designs and keep everything aligned.

Tip: Use Figma‘s Styles feature to create reusable spacing and grid styles, just like you did with colors and text.

Step 5: Implement Components Across Designs

With your component library built out, you can start using those components to quickly build interfaces and prototypes.

In Figma, you can easily insert components from your library onto any frame. If you update a component in the library, those changes will propagate to every instance where that component is used. This is the power of a design system!

As you build out full screen designs, be sure to use your defined spacing scale and layout grids. Consistency is key to a cohesive system.

Step 6: Document Your Design System

A design system isn‘t much good if no one knows how to use it. That‘s why thorough documentation is a must.

In Figma, you can use the Comments feature to add notes and explanations directly to your components and designs. You might include things like:

• When and how to use each component
• Explanations of design decisions
• Coding guidelines for developers

You can also create a separate "Documentation" page in your Figma file to house more general guidelines, like your design principles, spacing scale, etc.

Some teams also like to create a stand-alone style guide website that showcases their design system. Tools like Zeroheight can help pull your styles and components from Figma to generate a website automatically.

Scaling and Maintaining Your Design System

A design system is not a one-and-done project. It‘s a living, breathing entity that will grow and evolve over time as your product and team does.

Here are a few tips for scaling and maintaining your design system:

Make it a collaborative effort. Everyone on the team, from designers to developers to stakeholders, should feel ownership over the design system. Encourage contributions and feedback.

Establish a governance process. As your system grows, you‘ll need a process for proposing, reviewing, and implementing changes. This might involve regular design reviews, a steering committee, or contribution guidelines.

Keep it up-to-date. As new design patterns emerge or product needs change, be sure to update your design system accordingly. Regular audits can help identify outdated or inconsistent elements.

Make it accessible. Ensure your design system follows accessibility best practices, like sufficient color contrast and keyboard navigability. Bake accessibility into your components from the start.

Real-World Examples

Want to see some design systems in action? Check out these inspiring examples, all built in Figma:

• IBM Carbon Design System
• Shopify Polaris
• Spectrum, Adobe‘s design system
• Primer, GitHub‘s design system

Conclusion

Creating a design system in Figma is a powerful way to boost consistency, efficiency, and collaboration in your digital product design process. By establishing clear guidelines, building a flexible component library, and documenting it all thoroughly, you can set your team up for success.

Remember, a design system is a journey, not a destination. Start small, iterate often, and involve your whole team in the process. With a strong design system as your foundation, you‘ll be able to build amazing, cohesive user experiences at scale.

Happy designing!